The correct answer is D.

A search macro is a way to reuse a piece of SPL code in different searches. A search macro can take arguments, which are variables that can be replaced by different values when the macro is called. A search macro can also contain another search macro within it, which is called a nested macro1.

To represent an argument in a macro definition, you need to use the dollar sign ($) character to enclose the argument name. For example, if you want to create a search macro that takes one argument named “object”, you can use the following syntax:

[my_macro(object)] search sourcetype= object

This will create a search macro named my_macro that takes one argument named object. When you call the macro in a search, you need to provide a value for the object argument, such as:

my_macro(web)

This will replace the object argument with the value web and run the following SPL code:

search sourcetype=web

The other options are not correct because they use quotation marks (’ or ") or percentage signs (%) to represent arguments, which are not valid syntax for macro arguments. These characters will be interpreted as literal values instead of variables.